1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a socket connector, and more particularly, to a socket connector having a frame with a plurality of wafers assembled therein. Each wafer includes a plurality of passageways each assembled with a contact terminal therein.
2. Description of Related Art
A typical socket connector is provided to interconnect two electronic devices, such as a printed circuit board and an IC (Integrated Circuit) package. Taiwanese Patent No. M340609 issued to Hon Hai on Sep. 11, 2008 discloses such a socket connector, which is generally mounted to a printed circuit and used for connecting and testing an IC package. The socket connector includes an upper retaining board and a lower retaining board stacked with each other. The upper and the lower retaining boards are respectively formed with a plurality of upper holes and a plurality of lower holes communicating with each other. A corresponding number of contacts are inserted into and retained in the upper holes and the lower holes, whereby top ends of the contact extend out of the upper board for contacting with the IC package, and the bottom ends of the contacts extend out of the lower board for contacting with the printed circuit board.
The socket connector described above employs two stacked board to retain the contacts. Consequently, the upper and the lower boards have to be respectively manufactured to have a plurality of holes, which thus make the process complicated and difficult. Moreover, if one hole in any board is broken or damaged to an extent of malfunctioned, the whole board has to be changed and replaced with another one, and the repairing and reworking cost is thus increased. In addition, the application flexibility of the retaining boards is relative low. For example, if the dimension of the socket connector is needed to be changed, both of upper and the low boards have to be changed.
In view of the above, an improved socket connector of low cost and fine manufacturability is needed.